Railway-car truck



- June 1,1926. "1,586,790

, T. ELLIOTT RAILWAY CAR TRUCK Filed May 11, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L INVENTOR Thomas ELLlcrr,

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THOMAS ELLIOTT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE CINCINNATI OAR COM- PANY, F WINTON PLACE, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

' RAILWAY-CAR TRUCK.

Application filed May 11, 1925- Serial No. 29,588.

'thrustc of such bolster and causing it to return to normal position gradually or with I have found that it is difficult to get such a coordination of springs as will support the car bolster on the truck, a floating bolster which has no pivotal or king-bolt connection with the truck, and will permit yet check and reduce the side thrust movements of the bolster,- without causing a return lateral movement of the bolster so violent or forcible as to set up a lateral jerking action of the bolster, checking it too suddenly in its lateral thrust and forcing its back too severely in its return movement. It is to overcome this resulting lateraljerking movement of the bolster that I provide these link connections between the two sections of the leaf spring, which combination I have found in the actual use of the invention on railway cars to be effective and to operate to duly check the lateral thrusts of the bolster and to duly return the bolster toward a normal position, in an easy and smooth manner free from jerks.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a railway car truck embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional View; and 7 Figure 1 is an enlarged detail view of one of the connecting links. Referring to'the drawings in detail. the numeral 1 designates, generally, a railway car truck composed of side members made of upper arch bars 2, lower arch bars 3 with suitable journal boxes 4 with helical supporting springs 5 and of a general frame 6, of cast iron, duly secured in any convenient manner to the rest of the structure.

The truck further comprises a spring plank 7 secured as by bolts 8 and 8 to the frame 6, a bolt 8* also serving to connect the spring plank to the lower arch bar 3 and additionally tothe frame 6. A bracket 9 secured to such frame by bolts and-nuts 10 carries the lower section 11 of the leaf spring composed of this section and a like section indicated at 12. The latter or upper section is carried by a bracket 13 which in turn is secured by one or more bolts 14 to the body bolster 15.

It will now be understood that the weightof the car body and its load comes upon the bolster 15 which I denominate a floating bolster because its connections with the spring plank 7 are flexible through the intermediary of the leaf springs composed of the sections 11 and 12 and the links 16. In addition I interpose between the springpla-nk and the bolster, near, each end, one or both helical supporting springs 17 and 18 .as set forth in my application Serial No. 710,631, filed May 2, 1924: for improvements in railway car trucks now Patent No. 1,550,307, dated August 18, 1925. In that application I also showed and described elliptical springs interposed between or connected with the ends of the bolster and the spring plank.

In the present invention it will be observed that the sections of the leaf springs are not pivoted together at their ends, as in the form shown in said prior application, but are interconnected by the links 16 which I will now describe in particular.

The ends of the lower and upper leaf spring sections 11 and 12 are connected together by a supporting and yet yielding or flexible link generally indicated at 16. This link is composed of upper and lower standards 16 and-16 best shown in Figure i andrespectively provided with flange bases 16 and 16 by which the standards are secured to the respective spring sections. Each base is slotted as shown at 16 in Figure 4 to receive the end of each spring section which enters such recess and interlocks the base with it. Other leaves of the spring sections pass between the flanges of the bases 16 and 16 while clamping bolts 16 extend from flange to flange of each base and across the spring leaves to complete the connection between each spring section and its standards 16 and 16 respectively.

Each standard terminates in a jaw 16 which affords a deep recess 16. These recesses receive the ends of a link proper 19 which flexibly and strongly interconnects the two standards 16 and 16" of each link equipment, of which there are four, one for each end of each pair of leaf springs.

In my said copending application No. 11,6i5, filed Feb. 26, 1925, I set forth the coordination and coacting of the link equipment and the helical springs designated 16 in that case, in which the link equipments permit the free lateral movement of the upper leaf spring section when the bolster suliers side thrusts, and as freely will permit the return movement, yet without resisting the outward thrust or accelerating the return travel of the bolster, which latter function of checking the outer movement and aiding the return movement of the bolster was set forth as performed by the helical spring 16.

In this present invention I eliminate such helical springs between the upper and lower sections of the leaf springs, and thus eliminate their said function, and combine together and coordinate a link equipment at each end of each pair of leaf springs. This I do to eliminate the said functions of the helical springs 16 referred to in said other application, because under certain conditions it is highly desirable to permit the lateral thrusts of the bolster and the bolsters return movements unimpeded or interfered with by such helical springs. Among the practical conditions in car manufacture and use where this is desirable are:

In negotiating rough, badly aligned and poorly gauged tracks and fairly sharp, poor ly banked curves at moderately high rates of speed. In these conditions the connection of two sections of the elliptic springs by means of the two links is found to be preferable over connecting them by two helical springs, because such link connections permit longer and slower side motion and return of the bolster.

Thus it will be understood that in the present invention the permissive action of the link equipments in permitting the side thrust movements of the bolster is an action which is present at both ends of each of the leaf springs as distinguished from being present at one end only as where the coil springs are connected up at the other end of each leaf spring as set forth in said other application. By reason of this permissive action of the link equipments at both ends of each leaf spring, the bolsters are free from spring resistance and under the conditions above named are very sensitive to side thrusts, being resisted only by the natural tendency of the links proper designated 19 to hang in a vertical plane.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.111 a truck, the combination with a floating bolster and the truck frame proper, of a leaf spring, one of whose sections is secured to the bolster and the other to such frame, a link equipment connected to the sections of the leaf spring near each end thereof, such link erpiipment comprising two standards and a link through which the upper standard supported by the lower standard, and acting to permit lateral thrusts of the bolster and the swin;; ring return thereof.

2. In a truck, the combination with a heating bolster and the truck frame proper, of a leaf spring, one of whose sections is secured to the bolster and the other to such frame,

the position of the leaf spring being laterally beyond the truck frame, a link equipment secured to and between the leaf spring sections at each end, and being adapted to transfer the weight from the upper to the lower spring section and both adapted to permit the bolster and the upper spring section to move laterally and return.

In a. truck, the combination with a floating bolster and the truck frame proper, of a bracket secured to such b lster, a leaf spring section carried by such bracket, another bracket secured to such frame, another leaf spring section carried by such second bracket and a link equipment between and connected to the spring sections at each end of such sections, such equipment comprising two standards and a link through which the upper standard is supported by the lower standard.

at. I11 a truck, the combination with a floating bolster and a spring plank and helical springs positioned between and connected to the bolster and plank, of a leaf spring composed of two sections, one section secured to the bolster and the other to the truck structure and a link equipment connected with the spring sections at each end thereof.

5. In a truck, the combination with a floating bolster, a spring plank, and a plurality of coiled springs located between and attached to the bolster and spring plank, of a bracket secured to the bolster, another bracket secured to the truck frame, a. leaf spring composed of two sections. one section carried by each bracket and a link equipment positioned between and secured to the spring sections at each end thereof.

6. In a truck, the combination with a leaf spring composed of two sections, of :1V link squipment secured to said sections at each end, con'iprising two standards and a link through which the upper standard is supported by the lower standard.

'7. In a truck, the combination with a leaf spring composed of two sections, of a link equipment comprised of four upright standards, two of them connected to each spring one at each end thereof, and two links proper, one link connecting two of the standards together, and the other link connecting the other two standards together.

8. In a truck, the combination with a floating bolster and a truck frame proper, of a leaf spring composed of sections, one section secured to the bolster and the other to said frame, and a link equipment composed of a standard secured to each end of each spring section, such standards overlapping each other and each provided with a recess and a link proper fitted to said recesses and interconnecting the standards together.

,9. In a truck, the combination with a 15 floating bolster and truck frame proper, of two pairs of leaf springs, each pair having one section secured to the bolster and the corresponding'other section secured to the frame, anda link equipment consisting of eight upright standards, one for each end of each spring, and four links proper, one link for each two standards, such links sustaining the weight incumbent upon the four upper spring sections and transferring such Weight 25 to the four lower spring sections.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

THOMAS ELLIOTT. 

